Refrigerating apparatus



P rch 16, 1943. F. w. GERARD ErAL REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed June 27. 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 5 L46 tlly INVENT OR.

March 16, '1943. F. w. GERARD Erm.

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed June 27. 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 l R s\\ WM. \\\\Y INV ENT OR. me

March 16, 13943.

F. w. GERARD Erm.

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed June 27, 1941 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

772mm/ M 6:4440/ Have/s Il BY Para /c'zM 41a Sn vara Al. Smm- 1 :x1 Y

'Marh 16, 1943.

F. W. GERARD E'I'AL REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed June 27, 1941 4 Sheets- Sheet 4 Mfg/wapa MQZA.,

Patented ai. l5, E@

saves Parar REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Application June v27, 1941, Serial No. 400,064 8 Claims. (Cl. 62-1085) 'I'his invention relates to freezing devices employed in mechanically refrigerated household refrigerators.

'Ice trays employed in household refrigerators have recently been equipped with grids comprising rigid metallic walls movable relative to one another to break ice blocks from the compartments formed by the grid and tray walls. Recently these grid walls have been formed of aluminum and these Walls have had a film or coating of wax applied to their surfaces for rendering the walls water repellent so as to reduce bonding of ice thereto and to facilitate release of ice blocks therefrom. In order to render the aluminum walls capable of receiving and retaining the wax film or coating thereon, it has been necessary to anodize or activate the surface of these walls. Thus, it has been necessary to subject aluminum to an anodizing or activating process and thereafter a wax process before this material is rendered suitable and practical for use as ice tray grid walls. We, therefore, contemplate the making or forming of smooth surfaced ice tray grid walls from a material which has the inherent property of repelling water so as to eliminate the two separate, troublesome and expensive processes mentioned.

An object of our invention is to provide an improved grid structure for use in ice trays which structure facilitates the removal of ice blocks from the grid Walls.

Another object of our invention is to form substantially inflexible movable walls of an ice tray grid structure from a material having the inherent property of repelling water.

A further object of our invention is to form substantially inexible movable walls of an ice tray grid from a molded plastic material having the inherent property of providing the walls with smooth water repellent surfaces.

A still further object of our invention is to provide means associated with one of the grid walls formed of a material as described in the foregoing objects which means distributes force applied thereto, by a force applying means in order to mcve same relative to other walls over a substantial area thereof beyond the intersection of the walls.

Other and more specific objects land advan` tages reside in novel combinations and arrangements of parts of the ice tray grid structure as will more fully be apparent in the course `of ythe following description.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a top view of an ice tray having a grid constructed in accordance with the present invention positioned therein;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the device shown in Fig. 1 and is taken on the line 22 thereof;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the grid together with ice blocks frozen therein elevated relative to the tray;

Fig. 4 is a view showing the grid walls moved relative to one another and ice blocks removed from the grid structure;

Fig. 5 isaI vertical sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2 showing the mounting of a lever on the grid;

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2 showing the interlocking of one transverse wall on the longitudinal grid partition;

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional View taken on the line 1--1 of Fig. 2 showing the interlocking of other of the transverse grid walls on the longitudinal partition;

Fig. 8 .is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken on the line 8--6 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 2 showing a modified form of grid structure having the'present invention incorporated therein;

Fig. l0 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing the modied grid structure elevated relative to tlie tray;

Fig. 11 is a front view of one transverse wall of the modified grid structure showing an insert therein; and

Fig. 12 is a sectional view taken on the line i2--l2 of Fig. 11 showing the insert in the trans- .verse wall.

Referring to the drawings, forillustrating the present invention,- there is disclosed an ice tray opposed end walls iii and it. The tray rear end wall I9 converges outwardly toward the top of the tray for a purpose which will become apparent hereinafter. The walls i5, i0 and i9 of tray l5 have their yupper edge rolled over to form a rim which extends entirely around the top of the tray. A portion of the tray i5 is extended downwardly kfrom the tray rim, as at 2i, at the front end thereof and provides a mounting for a heavy metal piece 22 which has a handle 33 pivotally secured thereto. Handle 33 facilitates placing of tray l5 in or on a cooling element or evaporator of a refrigerating system and a cam surface 2d formed on this handle functions, upon actuating handle 23, to break an ice bond between the tray and its support to permit removal of the tray and its frozen contents from the evaporator inthe well known manner.

A unitary grid structure, generally represented by the reference character 25, is removably disposed within tray I5 and divides the interior of the tray into a plurality of rows of open top cells or compartments 28. The grid structure 25 includes two metalsections which are movable relative to one another and which are in the form of longitudinal members 21 and 28 disposed one above the other in substantially the same vertical plane to provide a longitudinal partition or partitioning member. By disposing the members 21 and 28, as stated, they form complementary portions of a single thickness longitudinal member which is common to a plurality of the ice block compartments 26. The upper member 21 is provided with a plurality of spaced apart notches ex- 'Ihese tending downwardly from its top edge. notches include side walls 3| and 32 and a bottom horizontal wall 33. The lower member 28 is provided with a plurality of spaced apart notches extending upwardly from its bottom edge. The notches in member 28 include side walls 34 and 35 and a horizontal top wall 3,6. It will be noted that the upper member 21 has a cut away portion 31 and that the lower member 28 has a cut away portion 38 which portions facilitate assembly of these members into a plurality of substantially inexible non-metallic transverse members 40 to be more specifically described hereinafter. It will also be noted that the notches provided in the lower member 28. of the longitudinal partition are equally spaced apart and that the notches of the upper member 21 are progressively wi, r relative to one another toward the rear end of grid 25 or toward'bthe front of the tray I5. Upper member 21 is somewhat shorter than the lower member 28 and a link in the form of two metal pieces 4I and 42, disposed on opposite sides of the member 21, extends beyond the member 21. One end of link forming pieces 4I and 42 is pivotally secured to member 21 by a pin or rivet 43. The other end of the link forming pieces 4I and 42 is pivotally secured to leg portions 44 of a force multiplying means or lever 45 by a rivet or pin 46. A pin or rivet 41 extending through the legs 44 of llever 45 passes through an opening provided in the raised portion 48 of the lower longitudinal member 28 to pivotally mount the lever 45 upon the grid structure 25. A metal piece 5I, tting within a notch 52 provided in th inclined edge portion of member 28, is bent around the raised portion 48 of member 28. 4The pin or rivet 41 passes through openings provided in the end portions of bent piece 5I to lock this piece in place so that it serves to structurally strengthen the portion 48 of member 28 located adjacent the pin or rivet .41. 'I'he link formed by the metal pieces 4| and 42 is provided with a notch similar to the notches in the upper member 21 and is formed by cutting away a portion thereof and bending this portion outwardly of each piece 4I and 42 to provide extending ears 54. The cut away parts of members 4|' and 42 and the bent portions or ears 54 thereof form the walls of the notch which receives the one transverse member 40g. at the lever end of the grid. Integral bent ears 54 of pieces 4| and 42 extend outwardly a substantial distance beyond the point of intersection of transverse member 40a with the metal pieces 4| and 42 of the longitudinal partition so as to dis.- tribute force, transmitted through the link p'ieces by the force applying lever over a substantial area of this one transverse Wall or member 48a.

In the present disclosure the transverse grid walls or partitioning members 48 and 40a consist of or are formed of a plastic material such as polystyrene. This material is obtainable on the market under the trade name of Styron and is a powder. The powdered styrene is heated in a vessel to between 180 and 300 F. to cause melting thereof whereupon it is forced under pressure into a mold. The molten material is permitted to cool and solidies in the mold and is then removed therefrom in the form of a substantially inflexible unitary polystrene glass-like piece of a shape desired to provide transverse grid walls or members. Polystyrene is a material of the character which inherently possesses the property of repelling Water and, therefore, this property of the molded plastic members provides the members 40 and 48a with smooth water repellent surfaces. While the use of polystyrene is preferred, because of its adaptation to rapid production, other materials having the inherent property of repelling water are also suitable for use in making grid walls of the character described. For example, polyvinyl-acetate or polyvinyl-chloride sold under the trade name of Vinylite is another material having the inherent property of repelling Water.

Referring again to the drawings, it will be noted that the transverse walls or members 40 and 40a-are tapered outwardly toward their tops and tapered outwardly from their sides toward the center thereof. Each transverse member is provided with a. vertically elongated opening centrally thereof. The opening 56 in members 40 is bounded at the top by a raised web portion 51 and at the bottom by a web portion 58 (see Fig. '1). The opening 59, in the one transverse member 40a, is wider at the top than at its bottom portion so as to receive the two link forming pieces 4| and 42 (see Fig. 6). Notches in the upper longitudinal member 21 are normally disposed out of vertical alignment with the notches in lower longitudinal member 28 so as to hold the transverse partitioning members 48 in a normally inclined position relative to the vertical (see Fig. 2). Thus the members 48 and 40a are mounted upon the longitudinal partition for movement relative thereto when the upper member 21 is moved lengthwise of the lower member 28 in the manner and for the purpose to be presently described.

In a structure of the type described, movement of the transverse walls 48 is caused by upward movement of the force applying lever 45. This force is transmitted to the end transverse member 40a through the link forming pieces 4I and 42 to move member 40a prior to moving the adjacent members 40. Movement of the rst transverse member 48a is utilized to wedge the ice blocks at the lever end of the grid against the converging or inclined end wall I9 of tray I5 so as to cause an upward movement of these end ice blocks. This wedging of theA end ice blocks causes the bond between all the ice blocks and walls of the tray to be broken and, therefore, requires a greater force to be applied to the end transverse member 48a than to any other of the members 48 to move same.` Thus, i l,.order to prevent breaking of the end transverse member 48a under this greater force, the extensions or ears 54 of link forming pieces 4I and 42 are constructed and so arranged that-lthey engage a relatively wide topportion qfgend'inember 48a the end transverse member 40a, itis only necessary to break the bond between the ice blocks and the grid walls upon further or continued movement of lever- 45 to cause release of the ice blocks and, therefore, no force distributing means is required to be associated with the members 4&0.

While wehave shown and described the ears 5d as providing force distributing meansin the preferred form of our structure, other force distributing means within the realm of the present teaching may be employed. For example, we show in Figs. 9 to 12 of the drawings, a modified structure wherein the molded plastic transverse member 40h, at the lever end of the grid is provided with a metallic insert 6| having a vertical opening therein registering with and conforming to the contour of the opening in the member dab. This metal insert 6| may be located closely adjacent the face of member 40h to which force is applied by the ears 54 or it may be located centrally of the member 40h as disclosed and provided with outwardly turned flange portions 62. Outwardly turned ange portions 62 of the metal insert 6I, serve to hold the insert centrally within a mold during the process of forcing the molten plastic material into the mold. The insert 6l extends outwardly a substantial distance from the point of intersection of transf verse member ddh with the link pieces 4i and 42 so as ,to distribute the force applied to member Mib over a substantial area thereof for preventing the applied force from breaking the member.

Assume that water has 'been frozen in tray i5 in the form of blocks 6d, in the compartments 2d, by the cooling effect produced by an evaporator of a refrigerating system, and the tray handle 23 has been manipulated to remove the tray from the evaporator and it is now desirable to remove ice blocks from the unitary grid structure 25. The handle end of lever 45 is, therefore, elevatedto pivot the lever about pin d1 and to cause movement of pin 46 and link pieces si and d2 toward the end I8 of the tray l5. Movementr of pieces di and d2 causes the ears' or the metal insert di to apply force over a substantial area of the side wall of the one transverse member da or 0b to tilt same toward the vertical. Tilting of member da. or 0b wedges the end ice blocks against the inclined tray wall I9 (see Figs. 3 and 10) and in breaking these end ice .blocks loose and forcing them up the inclined tray wall the bond between all other ice blocks and the tray walls is also broken by elevation of the grid relative to the tray. Further movement of the link pieces di and 42 moves the upper longitudinal member 2, through pin d3, lengthwise of the lower longitudinal member 28. As before stated, the notches in longitudinal member 2l are progressively wider and, therefore, the wall 32 of the notch in which the transverse member d@ adjacent member @a is located, engages the. upper web part l, of member di), and tilts same toward the v vertical. The progressively wider notches of member 21 causes, upon continued movement of lever d5, therest of the transverse members to be engaged and tilted toward the vertical in succession to successively break the ice blocks 64 from the grid walls. Since the grid walls or transverse. member 46 and 4ta are nor mally inclined and are tilted toward the vertical,

the compartments 26 are momentarily enlarged and the ice blocks 64 will, therefore, freely move out of the compartments and fall into tray l5 as illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings, upon elevating the grid 25 relative to the tray. 'Ihe ice blocks can then be readily harvested from the tray.

From the foregoing, it will be seen 4that we have provided an improved freezing device wherein the grid thereof includes transverse walls consisting of. a material having the inherent property of repelling water. By employing walls for theA grid made or formed of a material which inherently has the property of repelling water, bondage of ice blocks to the grid walls is materially minimized and the smooth water repellent wall surfaces facilitates movement of the walls relative to one another with the application of less forcey and facilitates release of ice blocks from their compartments. lSuch grid walls reduce manufacturing costs of grid structures for ice trays in that they eliminate one or more necessary processes to lbe carried out upon metal walls before they are rendered capable of serving their purpose.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adapted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow. Y

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A grid for an ice tray comprising, a longitudinal partitioning member and a plurality of substantially inflexible transverse molded plastic members separate from and mounted upon said longitudinal member for movement relative thereto, means for applying force to said transverse members to cause said relative movement thereof, means associated with one of said transverse members and extending a substantial dis- -tance outwardly of the point of intersection thereof with said longitudinal member, and said last named means cooperating with said force applying means to distribute the force over a substantial area of said one transverse member.

2. A grid for an ice tray comprising, a longiy structed and arranged as to distributethe force" of said force applying means over a substantial area of said one transverse member.

3. A grid for an ice `tray comprising, a longitudinal .partitioning member and a plurality of substantially inflexible transverse molded plastic members separate from and mounted upon said longitudinal member for movement relative thereto, means for applying force to said transverse members to cause said relative movement thereof, a metallic insert within one of said transverse members and extending a substantial distance outwardly on both sides of the point of intersection'of said one member with said longitudinal member, and said insert being so constructed and arranged as to distribute Vthe force applied by said force applying means *o said one transverse member over a substantial area thereof.

4. A grid for an ice tray comprising, a longitudinal partitioning member and a plurality of substantially iniiexible transverse members separate from and mounted upon said longitudinal member for movement relative thereto, said transverse members being formed of polystyrene, means for applying force to said transverse members to cause said relative movement thereof, means associated with one of said transverse members and extending a substantial distance outwardly of the point of intersection thereof with said longitudinal member, and said last named means cooperating with said force applying means and being so constructed and arranged as to distribute the force over a substantial area of said one transverse member.

5. A grid for an ice tray comprising, a. longitudinal partitioning member and a plurality of substantially inexible transverse members separate from and mounted upon said longitudinal member for movement relative thereto, said transverse members being formed of polystyrene, means for applying force to said transverse members to cause said relative movement thereof, means associated with said force applying means and extending a substantial distance outwardly of the point of intersection of one of said transverse members with said longitudinal member for contacting said one transverse member, and said last named means Ibeing so constructed and arranged as to distribute the force of said forceapplying means over a substantial area of said one transverse member.

6. A grid 'for an ice tray comprising, a longitudinal partitioning member and a plurality of substantially inflexible transverse members separate from and mounted upon said longitudinal member for movement relative thereto, said transverse members being formed of polystyrene. means for applying force to said transverse members to cause said relative movement thereof, a metallicinsert within one of said transverse members and extending a substantial distance outwardly on both sides of the point of intersection of said one member with said longitudinal member, and said insert being so constructed and arranged as to distribute the force applied by said torce applying means to said one transverse member over a substantial area thereof.

7. .A grid for an ice tray comprising, a longitudinal member and a plurality of substantially inflexible transverse molded -plastic partitionsl separate from and carried by said member for movement relative thereto, means for applying force to said partitions to cause said relative movement thereof, and means cooperating with said force applying means to distri-bute the force over a substantial area of one of said transverse partitions.

8. Agrid for an ice tray comprising. a longitudinal member and a plurality of substantially inflexible transverse partitions separate from and carried by said member for movement relative thereto, said transverse partitions being formed of polystyrene, means for engaging said partitions and applying force thereto to causesald relative movement thereof, and at least one of said partitions being of increased thickness in vthe vicinity of engagement therewith of said force 

